Communications and Information Technology Commission: The Kingdom is first in implementing and enabling the secure extension (DNSSEC) in the Middle East and North Africa

A report on the global index for the use and activation of the secure extension around the world - endorsed by the Internet Society (ISOC), concerned with setting internet standards and policies - showed that the Kingdom is the first country in the Middle East and North Africa region to implement the secure extension (DNSSEC) on the Saudi domain name system operating under the Saudi top-level domains (.السعودية and .sa) and to make its use available to the public, whereby customers can sign and secure their domain name information and publish the extension's signing keys through the Saudi domain names e-services portal (www.nic.sa).

The Communications and Information Technology Commission explained that the Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) is a set of technical specifications for securing and protecting the information provided by the Domain Name System (DNS), which uses the Internet Protocol (IP) system on the internet network. DNSSEC technology - which uses public-key cryptography - works to increase the level of security in the domain name system, and enables verification of the existence of information on the system as well as confirming its validity and source; this is in order to reduce certain cyberattacks known as "man-in-the-middle" attacks and "cache poisoning" attacks, in addition to leading and building capabilities in the field of cybersecurity in the Kingdom, and enabling participation in learning about the secure domain name system extension and taking it into consideration in their networks, applications, and services.

It is worth noting that the Communications and Information Technology Commission, represented by the Saudi Network Information Center, officially activated the Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) on the Saudi domain name system operating under the Saudi top-level domains (.السعودية and .sa) at the end of last Ramadan, as part of its efforts to develop the Saudi internet domain name system (السعودية, .sa) and work on implementing the Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC).